04-11-2008, 06:40 PM
Your joking right?
This is a study that used 400 years of data covering 3 continents. [cool]. Kind of put all your little pictures to shame..[
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[url "http://www.wolftrust.org.uk/faqpeople.html"]http://www.wolftrust.org.uk/faqpeople.html[/url] (where this article is.)
[url "http://www.nina.no/archive/nina/Publikasjoner/oppdragsmelding/NINA-OM731.pdf"]http://www.nina.no/archive/nina/Publikasjoner/oppdragsmelding/NINA-OM731.pdf[/url] (there refrence)
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[#cc0000]Do wild wolves kill people?[/#cc0000][/url]
![[Image: gr-spacer.gif]](http://www.wolftrust.org.uk/gr-spacer.gif)
Wolves have potential to kill people because they are large animals who prey on big, speedy, weighty creatures like bison and musk oxen. So will Highland residents and hill walkers be safe among wolves?
The first comprehensive and detailed report of attacks by wild wolves on humans in Europe, Asia and North America has now been published (Linnell et al 2002). The report's eighteen researchers reviewed the most reliable records they could find, written in 13 languages and dating from the 16th century to the present.
They identified three kinds of wolf attack: [ul] [li]Rabid - where wolves have gone mad because the rabies virus has infected their brains. [li]Predatory - unprovoked attacks where wolves appear to regard humans as prey. [li]Defensive - where wolves are provoked by people to attack, such as when trapped or cornered.[/li][/ul]They found that: [ul] [li]Most fatal attacks were by rabid wolves. [li]There were few fatal predatory attacks and none in North America. [li]There were no fatalities when wolves attacked defensively.[/li][/ul]Many records are fragmentary so cannot provide the total number of people killed by wolves, but do show that wolves have killed hundreds of people - and we can expect as many wounded people. However, given these attacks were over a period of 400 years and throughout the northern hemisphere, attacks by wolves are rare.
Most fatalities were pre-20th century. In the last fifty years the researchers could only find records of something over seventeen people killed in Europe and Russia, and none in North America - coinciding with the decrease of the spread of rabies in these regions.
Factors predisposing wolves to attack people were identified as: [ul] [li]Rabies - the main factor. [li]Habituation - when wolves lose their fear of humans and approach too close. [li]Highly modified environments - this includes few natural wolf prey, human poverty and large numbers of unattended small children, characteristic of pre-20th century Europe and India today (see below). [li]Provocation - when humans molest or try to kill wolves.[/li][/ul]The researchers conclude that the risk of wolf attack in Europe and North America today is very low because the factors associated with wolf attack are now rare.
People in the Highlands, therefore, have little or nothing to fear from wolves: rabies does not exist in Britain and conditions are not typical of highly modified environments as described above.
Also see
[url "http://wildlife.alaska.gov/pubs/techpubs/research_pdfs/techb13_full.pdf"][font "Arial, Helvetica, Sans Serif, Verdana"][#0000ff]McNay M E (2002)[/#0000ff][/font][/url]: A Case History of wolf-human encounters in Alaska and Canada. This is comprehensive review of wolf attacks on people in Canada, the country with the largest wolf population in the world.
[url "http://www.wolf.org/wolves/learn/intermed/inter_human/big_bad_wolf.asp"][font "Arial, Helvetica, Sans Serif, Verdana"][#0000ff]Mech L D (1998)[/#0000ff][/font][/url]: Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? - Revisited. First published in Audubon 92 (2), 82-85. This article, by one of the world's foremost wolf experts, is about wolf-caused human mortality in North America.
[url "http://www.wolftrust.org.uk/faqpeople.html#Frequently Asked Questions"][font "Arial, Helvetica, Sans Serif, Verdana"][#0000ff]Top of page[/#0000ff][/font][/url]
![[Image: gr-face.gif]](http://www.wolftrust.org.uk/gr-face.gif)
[#cc0000]Are you more likely to die by lightning or by wolf?[/#cc0000][/url]
You have a greater chance of being killed or injured by the rarity of lightning strike than by wolf attack.
The largest number of wild wolves in conterminous USA live in Minnesota, around 2,500 (Mech 2001), and are among the most studied wolves in the world. The wolves have killed no one, but each year one or two people die in Minnesota by lightning strike (NOAA).
Lightning in Britain kills on average three people per year (Elsom 2001; Elsom 2002). So assuming a wolf recovery in Britain, you would more likely be toppled by a bolt of lightning than by a wolf.
Thinking about lightning helps keep potential adverse wolf encounters in perspective.
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This is a study that used 400 years of data covering 3 continents. [cool]. Kind of put all your little pictures to shame..[
][url "http://www.wolftrust.org.uk/faqpeople.html"]http://www.wolftrust.org.uk/faqpeople.html[/url] (where this article is.)
[url "http://www.nina.no/archive/nina/Publikasjoner/oppdragsmelding/NINA-OM731.pdf"]http://www.nina.no/archive/nina/Publikasjoner/oppdragsmelding/NINA-OM731.pdf[/url] (there refrence)
[#cc0000][/#cc0000]
[#cc0000]Do wild wolves kill people?[/#cc0000][/url]
Wolves have potential to kill people because they are large animals who prey on big, speedy, weighty creatures like bison and musk oxen. So will Highland residents and hill walkers be safe among wolves?
The first comprehensive and detailed report of attacks by wild wolves on humans in Europe, Asia and North America has now been published (Linnell et al 2002). The report's eighteen researchers reviewed the most reliable records they could find, written in 13 languages and dating from the 16th century to the present.
They identified three kinds of wolf attack: [ul] [li]Rabid - where wolves have gone mad because the rabies virus has infected their brains. [li]Predatory - unprovoked attacks where wolves appear to regard humans as prey. [li]Defensive - where wolves are provoked by people to attack, such as when trapped or cornered.[/li][/ul]They found that: [ul] [li]Most fatal attacks were by rabid wolves. [li]There were few fatal predatory attacks and none in North America. [li]There were no fatalities when wolves attacked defensively.[/li][/ul]Many records are fragmentary so cannot provide the total number of people killed by wolves, but do show that wolves have killed hundreds of people - and we can expect as many wounded people. However, given these attacks were over a period of 400 years and throughout the northern hemisphere, attacks by wolves are rare.
Most fatalities were pre-20th century. In the last fifty years the researchers could only find records of something over seventeen people killed in Europe and Russia, and none in North America - coinciding with the decrease of the spread of rabies in these regions.
Factors predisposing wolves to attack people were identified as: [ul] [li]Rabies - the main factor. [li]Habituation - when wolves lose their fear of humans and approach too close. [li]Highly modified environments - this includes few natural wolf prey, human poverty and large numbers of unattended small children, characteristic of pre-20th century Europe and India today (see below). [li]Provocation - when humans molest or try to kill wolves.[/li][/ul]The researchers conclude that the risk of wolf attack in Europe and North America today is very low because the factors associated with wolf attack are now rare.
People in the Highlands, therefore, have little or nothing to fear from wolves: rabies does not exist in Britain and conditions are not typical of highly modified environments as described above.
Also see
[url "http://wildlife.alaska.gov/pubs/techpubs/research_pdfs/techb13_full.pdf"][font "Arial, Helvetica, Sans Serif, Verdana"][#0000ff]McNay M E (2002)[/#0000ff][/font][/url]: A Case History of wolf-human encounters in Alaska and Canada. This is comprehensive review of wolf attacks on people in Canada, the country with the largest wolf population in the world.
[url "http://www.wolf.org/wolves/learn/intermed/inter_human/big_bad_wolf.asp"][font "Arial, Helvetica, Sans Serif, Verdana"][#0000ff]Mech L D (1998)[/#0000ff][/font][/url]: Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? - Revisited. First published in Audubon 92 (2), 82-85. This article, by one of the world's foremost wolf experts, is about wolf-caused human mortality in North America.
[url "http://www.wolftrust.org.uk/faqpeople.html#Frequently Asked Questions"][font "Arial, Helvetica, Sans Serif, Verdana"][#0000ff]Top of page[/#0000ff][/font][/url]
[#cc0000]Are you more likely to die by lightning or by wolf?[/#cc0000][/url]
You have a greater chance of being killed or injured by the rarity of lightning strike than by wolf attack.
The largest number of wild wolves in conterminous USA live in Minnesota, around 2,500 (Mech 2001), and are among the most studied wolves in the world. The wolves have killed no one, but each year one or two people die in Minnesota by lightning strike (NOAA).
Lightning in Britain kills on average three people per year (Elsom 2001; Elsom 2002). So assuming a wolf recovery in Britain, you would more likely be toppled by a bolt of lightning than by a wolf.
Thinking about lightning helps keep potential adverse wolf encounters in perspective.
[signature]